BTU #216 - Army Veteran to the Shark Tank & Rumi Spice (Kimberly Jung)

October 25, 2018 Justin Nassiri

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Why Listen:
Today’s guest was introduced to me by Kill Anderson, from episode 182 at the Pat Tillman Foundation, who described Kim Jung as someone who moves a “mile a minute.” That may be an understatement. Kim went from the Army, to Harvard Business School, where she started Rumi Spice, a for profit company that employs over 2,000 women in Afghanistan. She raised over $500k in 24 hours, appears on the TV show the Shark Tank, where she raised funds from Mark Cuban himself. And is now at MIT getting another advanced degree, and focusing on the space industry. She asks herself frequently about if she is operating at 100% happiness… and if not, finds a way to get there. There is something for everyone in this episode.

About Kimberly Jung:
Kimberly Jung is a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors of Bunker Labs. She started out at West Point, after which she served as an officer in the Army for 5 years, most recently as a Brigade Construction Officer. After her military service, she earned her MBA from Harvard Business School, and then started Rumi Spice, a for-profit social enterprise that imports saffron from Afghan farmers and cooperatives.

Our Sponsor:

This episode is sponsored by Lockheed Martin. At Lockheed Martin, veterans are at the center of everything they do — in fact, one in five of their employees has served in uniform. Lockheed Martin is proud to help men and women like you successfully transition into civilian careers. Join Lockheed Martin and you will find opportunities to take on the same kind of long-term challenging assignments you tackled while in the military. Whether you’re on active duty, transitioning or already embarking on your civilian career, Lockheed Martin’s Military Connect is your online community for professional support. You can find out more at https://lockheedmartin.bravenew.com
StoryBox- People trust each other more than advertising. StoryBox provides the tools and supports businesses need to take the best things customers say about them, and use them to drive more sales and referrals. StoryBox offers a 10% discount to companies employing veterans of the US Armed Forces.
Audible is offering one FREE audio book to Beyond the Uniform listeners. You can claim this offer here, and see a list of books recommended by my guests at BeyondTheUniform.io/books

Selected Resources:

Transcript & Time Stamps:

4:00

Joining me today from Boston is Kim Jung. Kim is a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors of Bunker Labs. She started out at West Point, after which she served as an officer in the Army for 5 years, most recently as a Brigade Construction Officer. After her military service, she earned her MBA from Harvard Business School, and then started Rumi Spice, a for-profit social enterprise that imports saffron from Afghan farmers and cooperatives.

5:11

How did you decide to separate from the Army?

I learned a lot, I got stationed in Germany and got the opportunity to lead troops. I left because I wanted to learn more about being a leader which my business school really does. What you learn is to mobilize people and resources to get things done.

6:00

How did you decide to business school after your military service rather than going straight into the workforce?

I got advice from a lot of people beforehand. I remember that I did apply to both jobs and business school so I wasn’t closing any door. But when I got into Harvard, it was kind of a no-brainer that I should go there.

6:45

Can you tell us more about the origins of Rumi Spice?

The idea came about in business school. A lot of things the Army did in Afghanistan, I’m proud of. But it seemed like we were addressing an effect rather than a problem. The underlying problem is economic opportunity. My co-founder felt the same way. So we had a couple of veterans that had served in Afghanistan that came together to start a small business opening up markets for Afghan farmers. So these farmers are not a recipient of charity, they are our business partners. They are part of our supply chain and they have a stake in how well we do. We have directly hired 2000 Afghan women to produce the saffron.

8:30

How did you approach the question of whether or have a for-profit or not-for-profit business?

We struggled with that question for a while. There’s pros and cons to either. With a for-profit, all the stakeholders involved have a monetary value attached to them as far as what they have given and what they have received. With non-profits, it’s a little different. The people who are donating the money are not necessarily the recipients who receive the value of the non-profit. So there’s an agency problem and accountability issue there.

So we really struggled with it and looking at our experiences in Afghanistan, we saw the same accountability problems with massive government budgets in agencies such as USAID. So we wanted to try a different for-profit approach. As I mentioned before, the farmers that we work with have an economic stake in what we’re doing. Because of this, it’s a fair process.

When we were all in business school, we saw that there are a lot of for-profit businesses out there that are doing great things in the world. Frequently we think of for-profit as “bad” and non-profit as “good” but I do not feel that this is the case. In fact, I would advocate that it’s the other way around.

10:20

What was it like balancing launching a company with going to business school?

It was tough. I was living with Emily Miller - one of the co-founders - at the time. We were taking classes and then in the evening, we were working furiously on the business. Our living room was filled up to the ceiling with boxes and equipment. So we really didn’t have a life for over a year which was tough. But what better way to learn business than by doing it?

11:50

What was it like getting in this business started?

In February 2014, I was in an entrepreneurship class and we were being asked what we were going to do with our life. I really got to thinking about it because when you make big decisions, you’re making decisions about what you do to spend your your time everyday. I had always wanted to start a business that helped women in Afghanistan.

I wasn’t married and didn’t have kids so for me it wasn’t that much of a leap to start a business and just go for it. So I bought a ticket to Afghanistan and I got my entrepreneurship professor to go with me. I met up with Keith, who was deployed at the time. We met up with a lot of farmers throughout Afghanistan. I remember traveling around as a civilian wearing a hijab and it was such a refreshing experience. At first the farmers didn’t want to shake my hand because it’s not part of their custom to touch a women that’s not part of their family. But a year later, they were taking selfies with me and shaking my hand because they were really part of the business by that point.

The first time I went to Herat, I remember the saffron coming into the room and the smell was amazing. But it came in a box with string. So there was a problem with marketing because this was some of the best saffron in the world. So if you think about how businesses can create value, effective marketing can really make a significant and practical difference. I think that’s something that the American government and agencies like USAID have overlooked. In order to win hearts and minds, it really helps to build up local businesses.